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Teacher’s heartfelt video on how smartphones hurt students makes the case for phone-free schools

“My heart goes out to teachers. It shouldn’t be this hard to teach.”

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A group of high schoolers look bored.

Much has been made in recent years about the effects that smartphones have had on young people, and that has led at least 19 states in the U.S to impose some sort of limitation on children having cell phones in schools, whether it’s a total ban or having the kids put their phones into pockets outside the classroom.

Social scientist Jonathan Haidt, a leader in the phone-free schools movement and author of The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, recently shared a video on Instagram where a teacher he identified as Emma shared how smartphones have made her students apathetic.

teens with phones, kids and phones, anxiety, smeartphone addiction, dopamine, phones schools Two kids looking at their phones.via Canva/Photos

“First of all, the kids have no ability to be bored whatsoever. They live on their phones, and they are just fed a constant stream of dopamine from the minute their eyes wake up in the morning until they go to sleep at night,” the teacher says. “Because they're in a constant state of dopamine withdrawal at school, they behave like addicts. They're super emotional; the smallest things set them off. And when you're standing in front of them trying to teach, they're vacant. They have no ability to tune in if your communication isn't packaged in short little clips or if it doesn't have bright, flashing lights.”


The hardest part, Emma says, is that “They have their eyes looking at me, but they're not there...They have a level of apathy that I've never seen before in my whole career...It's like you are interacting with them briefly in between hits of the Internet, which is their real life.”

Haidt praised the video for doing what he says is a great job of sharing the damage that smartphones have done to children's developmental progress—and that the problem extends far beyond the dangers of social media, affecting their basic brain function.

“This is why I’m not only talking about #socialmedia—in the book I describe an entirely different kind of childhood that #smartphones have ushered in,” Haidt wrote in the comments. “I call it the #phonebasedchildhood, because it’s not just that touch-screen devices have added entertainment and 'connection'—they have replaced developmentally necessary aspects of childhood.”

teens with phones, kids and phones, anxiety, smeartphone addiction, dopamine, phones schools Teenagers taking selfies.via Canva/Photos

Haidt offers recommendations for parents and schools to help prevent children from developing trouble focusing or being away from their smartphones. He says parents shouldn’t allow their kids to have a smartphone before high school, as well as no social media until they are 16 years old.

When it comes to schools, Haidt believes that allowing students to bring their phones to class, provided they don’t use them, won’t help the problem. Instead, he thinks kids should place their phones in Yondr pouches, which are locked until the end of the day, or in phone lockers where they can retrieve them after school.

With pushback from teachers and social scientists such as Haidt, there is renewed hope that young people can find a better balance between real life and technology.

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Adults share the 11 money-free ways their parents infused a pure magic into their childhood

Proof that it often costs nothing to create core memories.

Photo credit: Canva

Magic doesn't cost much to create. Just a little imagination.

One of my personal favorite memories from childhood—which was upper lower class, at best— is the afternoon that my mother and I were traipsing through a woodsy area to have a picnic. And by picnic, I mean a couple of servings of grilled cheeses and potato chips.

It began to rain, so we set up shop quickly and covered ourselves with a clear plastic tarp, which was soon covered in snails. Because of her ingenuity, I experienced something that felt straight out of a fairy tale, something I will cherish forever.

My story, however personal, is not all that unique. Parents everywhere are not letting financial obstacles prevent them from adding a bit of magic into their kid’s lives. And the truth is, many important core memories just like this one don’t really require that much money at all. What they ask for is a parent's presence.

childhood, core memories, frugal, money, money free activities, parenting, kids I've loved snails and rain ever since. Photo credit: Canva

What a lovely reminder in an age where parents are pressured to buy more and more lavish things in order to prove…well, we’re really not sure what there is to prove here. But society sure makes us feel the need to prove something, doesn't it?

In a since-deleted Reddit post, someone recalled that their own parents couldn’t afford baseball game tickets and created their own makeshift stadium at home (complete with little paper tickets) and in the process created something much more impactful than going to a game.

This inspired a whole slew of adults sharing equally magical childhood memories that came from their parent’s creativity, not from money. There were also a few parents themselves who shared the money-free ways they added whimsy.

Here are some of our favorites:

1. Unicorn Walks

“My mom told me that unicorns only come out at dusk. So naturally, I wanted to go out for walks to search for unicorns almost every day. It was decades before I realized that my single mother just wanted to go out for walks with me and that was her way of convincing me to go outside.”

2. Fairy Hunts

“Told them any time they saw glitter out in nature it was because a fairy had been there. If they were lucky it might still be there but they had to look for us bc grown-ups couldn't see them anymore. I would sneakily drop glitter near the knobby roots of trees, puddles in stones, or anyplace that seemed ‘magical’ as we walked for them to find. They happily walked and searched for fairies and enjoyed nature and still as teenagers will say something is the ‘perfect fairy spot.’”

3. Magic Rocks

“I had a geology phase when I was a kid. Used to go outside in the back yard and on walks with the parents looking for semi precious stones…with my magnifying glasses and a book to identify them. I found a lot of cool stuff…It was literally decades later when I realized you don't just ‘find’ things like quartz, amethyst, topaz, whatever lying around in the suburbs. My parents had bought a bag of random assorted stones and hid them around the yard and neighborhood for me to find, to encourage my hobby.We were pretty broke, so the ~$20-$50 they spent on that went a really long way.”

childhood, core memories, frugal, money, money free activities, parenting, kids It's actually really easy to create magic. Photo credit: Canva

4. Wintertime Wolf Patrol

“We did something we called wolf patrol with our kids. Through the winter when we had less outdoor time we would give them [flashlights] and they’d creep around the garden with them for about 10 minutes before going up for bathtime/bedtime. It seemed to help them to have some fresh air before bedtime.”

5. Magic Mardis Gras Tube

“During Mardi Gras my wife would let her daughter and step son watch the parades on tv. While they watched she would sit behind them and occasionally throw candy or whatever up around them and they thought it was coming out of the tv. They told the kids it was a magic tube in the TV that allowed this to happen only during Mardi Gras so they didn’t always expect it to happen.”

6. Senior Baseball

“I didn't grow up particularly poor but we did have one summer where we were broke and my dad would take me to watch senior baseball down at the park.These guys in their 50s all playing ball once a week at an intensity level someplace between a beer league and Game 7 of the World Series absolutely loved having a kid there cheering them on like they were big leaguers.I knew all their names, knew how they'd been doing at bat because I kept score. Someplace at my parents house there's a signed ball from everybody on that team.”

7. Camping During Power Outages

“I didn’t realize my family was poor until a lot later in my life because my mom made things like our power getting shut off magical. Our power got shut off once so we ‘went camping.’ We got our sleeping bags and lit candles. We used some tea lights to roast weenies and played board games. I had to have been like four, maybe five, and I didn’t learn until I was like 16 that it was because the power was out. I just remember it as a fun night with my mom and brothers.”

childhood, core memories, frugal, money, money free activities, parenting, kids " I just remember it as a fun night with my mom and brothers.”Photo credit: Canva

8. Toilet Paper Ninja Turtle

“My dad used to make nunchucks out of string and toilet paper tubes, and then cut eye masks out of old red t-shirts so that I could be [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’] Rafael on Saturday mornings while cartoons were on. At that point I didn’t even know poor was a thing, so I just thought it was bad ass that I had a Rafael costume. There’s some beauty in not knowing there are options besides being poor.”

9. Disney Riddle Easter Egg Hunt

“One Easter in the early 90s my younger brothers and I woke up excited to see the haul the Easter bunny had left us .We went to the living room -nothing :(.Needless to say we thought we were bad and he didn’t come. Then on top of our TV set in a vase we saw a little baggie with 3 foiled eggs in it with a small computer printed out slip with a riddle on it. We lived on an acreage and this was our ‘Easter egg hunt.’ My parents wrote Disney riddles that took us on an adventure all around the property! They stayed up all night printing and coming up with these 12+ riddles out and placing them all over the property just to surprise us that morning.One of my best childhood memories! They were always magic!”

childhood, core memories, frugal, money, money free activities, parenting, kids Everybody knows the hunts is more fun than the eggs. Photo credit: Canva

10. Bathtub Ball Pit

“I was a large child in the '80s, 99th percentile for both height and weight at six years old. Because of this, I was not allowed in any ball pits at Chuck E. Cheese…One day in particular, I was attending a birthday party…[and I ] had to sit there on the sidelines as my friends got to have fun… I told my mom about it afterwards and she could tell how disappointed and sad I was…Later that week…bath time rolled around and my mom got me as usual, but that night she covered my eyes with her hands as she steered me into the bathroom. When she let me look, I was greeted with my very own ball pit. She had gotten a bag of water balloons and had blown them all up so that I had a floating ball pool in the tub. It was so pretty with all the bright colors AND it involved water (I would have lived in water if I had the ability), so it was the most amazing thing to six-year-old me. She turned a point of sadness and exclusion into one of my most cherished memories.”

childhood, core memories, frugal, money, money free activities, parenting, kids Honestly an at home ball pit is probably wayyyy more hygienic anyway. Photo credit: Canva

11. Handmade Treasure Map

“My dad drew a treasure map using our apartment complex roads and we went on this adventure with my little binoculars and his old school digital camera to find the ‘treasure.’ I picked up a lot of flowers growing on the road along the way and seeing new things to add to my treasure collection. I still remember it as a core memory of my childhood and genuinely thought it was a magical treasure quest in the moment 🥲. I will be carrying on this activity when I have kids in the future for sure.”

Creating amazing memories doesn’t need to be lavish. So often, kids respond more when we meet them at their level, using nothing but love and pure imagination.

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Touching video shows a young boy saying goodbye to the garbage man he's greeted for 4 years

What started as a love of big trucks became a friendship.

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A sanitation worker taking a garbage can to the truck.

There are many wonderful reasons why little kids are fascinated, and at the same time, perhaps a little scared of garbage trucks. They have bright colors, flashing lights, and have massive moving parts that shriek and moan as they lift the garbage bins and throw them in the back of the truck. They are also impressed by the operator who pulls the levers and makes the massive machine lift and dump.

Little kids have this fascination until they are around five or six, until one day when the garbage man comes by they no longer feel the need to run out and watch. However, a touching story out of Florida shows that nine-year-old Noah Carrigan never lost his love for the garbage man, and that’s because they forged a sweet relationship. But unfortunately, after the city changed its waste management contracts, the garbage collector will no longer stop by Noah’s house.

“It started out as something so simple—he was just fascinated by the garbage truck,” Noah’s mom, Catherine Carrigan, told SWNS. “For years, every Tuesday, he would run outside to wave, and the garbage man always waved back, honked the horn, and acknowledged him.” She filmed the garbage man’s last pickup at his house, and it marked the end of an era.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

On the garbage man’s final visit, Noah handed him a bottle of water, a handwritten note, and some gifts to express his gratitude and appreciation for the kindness and years of friendship. "He wanted to write him a thank you note with garbage truck toys he used to play with," the mother wrote on a social media post. “This farewell hit hard,” she admitted.



One of the unique aspects of being a parent is that there are many last moments you have with your child, although you never know it at the time. Whether it’s the last time you pick up your child, the final time that you read The Little Engine That Could, or the last time that you put a Band-Aid on their knee after a fall, these final moments go without fanfare, but if you knew at the time that you’d never have that moment again, you’d cherish every second.

garbage man, sanitation worker, thumbs up, trash, garbage truck, orange jacket A sanitation worker giving the big thumbs up.via Canva/Photos

That's why parents need to take a moment to realize that they are in the midst of something beautiful that is fleeting. So, when there are those nights when you're tired and don’t feel like reading them a book before bed, or getting off the couch to play catch, knowing you only have so many of these moments is a great way to enjoy them. Because one day, when they’re gone, you’ll wish you could have read one more book or spent that nice spring day on the lawn throwing a ball around.

That’s why the story about young Noah and the garbage man is wonderful. On one level, it's a touching story about the friendship between a man and a young boy, highlighting the importance of the people who work in our communities. On the other hand, it’s a reminder that some of these simple joys in life we share with children will one day end—and you can’t turn back the clock.

This article originally appeared in April.

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Mom of world’s youngest Mensa member reveals the 3 ways they realized they had a mini-genius

“It soon became clear that he was an exceptional little being.”

Guinness World Records

Joseph Harris-Birtell made history at 2 years old.

There are lots of smart children: ones who potty-train easier than others, pick up reading at a young age, or can play complex instruments before kindergarten. Then, there are genius children. One little boy in the United Kingdom is the latter, who quietly made history by becoming the youngest person admitted to Mensa, the exclusive intellectual organization that only accepts masterminds with an IQ of 132 or above—for those who aren’t in Mensa, that’s less than two percent of the population. So, how old was little Joseph Harris-Birtell when he was admitted to Mensa? A mere two years and 182 days. There are professional sports teams with World Series champion droughts longer than that—much longer.

Born on November 23, 2021, parents Rose and David Harris-Birtell say that Joseph has been extraordinary since birth. “It soon became clear that he was an exceptional little being,” Rose told the Guinness Book of World Records. Perhaps this isn't surprising, considering both his parents are academics: Joseph's father, David, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of St. Andrews and Rose is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the same institution. “He is very kind and loving, confident and curious, and incredibly determined,” Rose said. “He loves a challenge and is really exhilarated by complexity, whether learning chess or poring over new words and concepts that he hasn’t come across before.”

toddler, genius, smart, mensa, mom Beyond intellect, Joseph is kind and loving, too. Guinness World Records


The difference between smart and genius

But when did the Harris-Birtells know they had a prodigy on their hands, that their son wasn't just smart, but a genius? Rose describes three signs that tipped them off:

  1. He rolled over at five weeks: Rolling over, from belly to back and vice versa, is one of the earliest and most important motor milestones in an infant's development. Think of it as a baby's first step toward taking their first step. According to pediatrician Dr. Lauren Crosby, rolling over is “a crucial gross motor skill essential for building core strength, head control, and weight shifting.” But just because your baby has a penchant for rolling around and started doing it earlier than most doesn't automatically mean they're the next Isaac Newton, or whoever invented Post-Its (that was Dr. Spencer Silver, a true hero). Early physical milestone achievement alone is not a reliable indicator of superior intelligence. But Joseph didn't just start rolling early—he practically did it out of the womb. While most babies typically start rolling over between four and six months of age, Joseph had mastered this skill in a mere five weeks.
  2. He spoke his first word at seven months: The second sign of Joseph’s extraordinary intelligence came when he was only seven months old, when he said his first word. (For context, the average age for this milestone is between 9 and 15 months.)
  3. Before two years old, he read his first book out loud: After the first word tumbled out of Joseph, it was off to the races. Reading at this age is extraordinary: research says that from ages three to four, children begin to recognize letters and understand the concept of printed language, but don’t learn how to actually read until much later, around ages six or seven. “By two-and-a-quarter years old, he was reading out loud fluently for 10 minutes at a time,” says Rose. “And he could count to 10 in five languages and could count forwards and backwards to well over 100.”

toddler, genius, smart, mensa, mom Joseph loves a challenge.Guinness World Records


And that was only the beginning for young Joseph. Since then, his mother says that the pint-sized genius has also begun to learn morse code, taught himself the Greek alphabet, and is “interested in the periodic table,” adding, “His interests are vast and varied, and he is always keen to learn more and loves a challenge.”

Before Joseph, the youngest member to join Mensa was Isla McNabb, who was two years and 195 days old when she was admitted to the prestigious club in 2023. The Crestwood, Kentucky native scored in the 99th percentile of intelligence for her age on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, which led to her parents to look into Mensa.

What do you do when a truly gifted child comes along, like Joseph or Isla? Joseph’s achievement highlights a challenge for many parents: supporting a child who has needs that do not fit conventional standards. Whether a child is academically advanced, a creative virtuoso, or has different learning abilities, their parents inevitably struggle to find support and understanding.

toddler, genius, smart, mensa, mom Joseph's mom hopes his story can raise awareness for children with different needs. Guinness World Records

“It is a common misconception that everything is super easy for gifted children,” Rose explained to Guinness Book of World Records.

She continues,

"But everyone needs appropriate stimulation and understanding throughout their lives, and highly able learners can sadly have their unique talents dimmed by the pressure to fit into environments that simply haven’t been properly designed for them. Joseph is fortunate enough to attend a brilliant nursery and has an excellent music teacher, and in Mensa we hope to provide him with a community of peers as a source of further support as his formidable intellect continues to grow and develop.”

Yes, Joseph’s story is remarkable, and it’s a joy to marvel at a genius child. But it’s also a reminder that every child is unique, with their own needs and challenges, and they should be celebrated, too. Instead of trying to force them to fit a prescribed mold, or “be like everyone else,” Joseph is a shining example of what can happen when a child is allowed to thrive and dance to the beat of their own drum.

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